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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Have you ever been a part of a project team whose components
seemed to be lacking until everyone pulled together to accomplish something
great? Why do these things happen? The answer is the leadership. A poor leader
fails to bring out the best of an already great team, but a great leader can
create winners out of a team who may seem to lack ability.

Leadership is a critical and essential component for any
project management team. Leading a project towards success requires the manager
to have a clear vision, clarity in reason, practical in scheduling and the
ability to attract a talented and efficient team. The stress in project
management is about ensuring that things get done while motivating the project
team towards delivering project success.

Rick Mears, CIO of Owens & Minor, has an interesting perspective
on the most important elements of leadership
with implications for how PMs show leadership in their roles. Here are
his top 10 leadership habits of project managers according to Mears:

10. Keeping customers,
people and profits balanced

These days, PMs have to watch the boundaries they place on stakeholders,
teams and projects. Does delivering a project on time make us successful
if they’ve killed their team while doing so? This habit rings true with the
juggling act that PMs must keep up.

9. Delivering
bad news quickly

One of the biggest mistakes PMs can make is to sit on negative
information in the hope that it will get better on its own. The world
doesn’t work this way – the much better alternative is to share the information
with decision-makers and come up with solutions to solve the problem.

8. Having tough
conversations early

If PMs don’t address conflict in a timely manner, it can
poison the relationship, the team atmosphere, etc. Wait too long and you
will blindside people with feedback that is out of date.

7. Running the
play that was called when the huddle breaks

This is all about consistency, about not second-guessing the
decision that was made. Leaders who say one thing to the team, then
turn around and take an action quickly lose creditability. This doesn’t
mean you can’t change course, but that if you do so, you need to get the team’s
understanding.

6. Owning the
decision

A leader who says to her team “Well, the big boss upstairs
says we have to do it this way” has just given away her authority, and damaged
the team’s confidence in her leadership. A true leader has to understand
the decision, become creative in how to follow it and own it.

5. Collaborating
– try for consensus

As leaders, PMs should do everything we can to get consensus
from our teams. Knowing that this will not always be possible, the next
best thing we can do is at least spend enough time communicating our point of
view so that the team understands the decision.

4. Focusing on
the things that you can influence, and then grow you influence

It’s important that PMs continue to hone leadership skills,
relationships, credibility to grow their areas of influence. If they aren’t
managing that ability to influence, they will run into brick walls that can limit
effectiveness.

3. Staying confident
on the inside, but humble on the outside

True leaders take the heat, and give all the credit to the
folks on the ground doing the work. Ironically, by doing so, leaders are
seen as honorable and capable – things that make others want to follow them.

2. Asking for
help

Some people in leadership roles are crippled by the fear
that if they ask for help, they will be seen as weak. In not asking for
help, they become ineffective or make costly mistakes – which makes them seem
week.

1. Trust –
takes forever to build, can be destroyed in an instant

For leaders to be effective, they must be trusted.
Each of the points above relate to this core concept – and it is a fragile
thing to maintain. It’s worth it to keep this concept in mind in almost
all PMs’ actions as leaders – how are they are building trust, and are they
risking damage to the trust they have established?

1 comment:

The military is gigantic on "...in order to become a good leader you must first become a good follower..." That instills planning the objectives, follow the plan, adjust as required, communicate, communicate, communicate. People who you are responsible for quickly analyze your leadership style, or lack there of, because they test you to see what type you are, early and often.